Oliver ‘Power’ Grant, a close colleague of the Wu Tang Clan, has died aged just 52. As yet no cause has been revealed.
The news was confirmed by the Clan on Instagram, who wrote simply: “Rest in Power, Power.” Other tributes have come in from individual Wu Tang members. Method Man has posted on social media: “Paradise my brother safe travels! I am not okay.”
Meanwhile GZA has written on Instagram: “Wu wouldn’t have come to fruition without Power. His passing is a profound loss to us all. My deepest condolences to the fam.” Raekwon has shared a photo of the group with Power, adding: “We been everywhere… now you everywhere. The most high is merciful love you.”
More than just an affiliate of the hip hop icons, Grant was in many ways the tenth (or eleventh, if we’re including the late Ol’ Dirty Bastard) member of the Clan. A fellow Staten Islander, he was an early backer of the group – lending them the funds to record their debut single Protect Ya Neck and acting as executive producer of their classic 1993 album Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers).
And it was Grant who oversaw the launch of the group’s clothing line Wu Wear. Nowadays every A-list hip-hop artist has their own branding, but the Clan – and Grant in particular – were quick to see its commercial potential and made sure that the line made it into US department stores.
In 1999, the Clan extended their brand into video games, launching Wu-Tang: Shaolin Style for the PlayStation. A fighting game in which you could play each of the Clan’s characters; again, it was Grant who masterminded this project.
In a 2011 interview with the blog Passion Of The Weiss, Grant played down his role in establishing the group's business empire, saying: “A lot of it was trial and error… Wu Wear was pretty much like our entry in the fashion biz. But before I was in Wu Wear, I was making and marketing the first Wu records with RZA. Everything that we learned was hard-knock life… There were no models.”
In amongst all this, Grant also found time to dabble in acting. He made his screen debut in the Hype Williams-directed 1998 drama Belly, and the following year acted alongside Ben Stiller and Robert Downey Jr in Black And White.
